2019年经济学人 清真寺枪击案:阿塔·埃拉扬被匆匆结束的一生(3)

 

Nimbly warding¹ off opponents was quite a feature of his life. Somehow he fitted in another career as a goalie in the game of futsal, indoor football, and was so good that, as well as playing for Canterbury United Dragons and coaching at his old school, Christchurch Boys’ High, he was picked for the Whites, the national squad². Though he held citizenships from elsewhere—Kuwaiti from his birthplace, Palestinian from his father—and though he had spent his childhood in Oregon, he was proud to wear the silver fern on his shirt. He was not just the tallest in the team, with the best beard, but the only guy in elbow pads, knee pads, gloves and long trousers, prepared to leap, twist and dive to the solid floor to keep the opponents’ ball out of the net. Even at play, he couldn’t rest those lightning reflexes. If he once touched the ball, he had four seconds to pass it; no room to fail.

巧妙地避开对手是他生活的一大特色。不知何故，他在五人制室内足球比赛中找到了另一份守门员的职位，他踢得非常好，不仅为坎特伯雷联队效力，还在他的母校克赖斯特彻奇男孩高中担任教练，他还被选入了国家怀特队。虽然他拥有其他地方的公民身份——来源于出生地的科威特人身份，来源于父亲的巴勒斯坦人身份——尽管他的童年是在俄勒冈度过的，但他很自豪能在衬衫上佩戴银蕨。他不仅全队最高、留着最棒的胡子，而且是唯一一个戴着护肘、护膝、手套和长裤的人，准备跳跃、转身和俯冲到坚实的地板上，把对手的球挡在网外。即使在练习中，他也不能让那些闪电般的反应停下来。一旦他触到球，他只有四秒钟的时间传球；没有失败的余地。

The tech world, too, moved at such breakneck speed that he had to be aware of every opportunity, hungry, ready to grab³. He watched colleagues leap on to Android and ios before he could, when he was still moonlighting with Mike to try to get the company started. He tried many avenues that didn’t work, and wasn’t that surprised by the eventual⁴ demise⁵ of Windows Phones; he’d picked the underdog precisely⁶ because others hadn’t. Usually he kept the failures quick, and bought the team dinner whenever they had success. All through he kept up the punishing, exciting schedule of emails, meetings, project management, conference calls, coffee and more coffee. The only long regular break he took in the week was to go to Friday prayers. “On the Day of Assembly, hasten earnestly to the Remembrance of Allah, and leave off business. That is best for you, if ye but knew!” was the injunction in the Koran.

科技界也以如此惊人的速度发展，他必须看到每一个机会，随时准备抓住。他在他还在和迈克一起做兼职、试图创办公司的时候，就眼见同事们已经迫不及待地使用 Android 和 ios 系统了。他尝试了许多行不通的方法，对 Windows phone 的最终消亡并不感到惊讶；他选择不被看好的产品恰恰是因为其他人没有选择它。通常情况下，他总是很快就能战胜失败，一旦团队取得成功，他就会请他们吃饭。在整个过程中，他一直保持着繁重而令人兴奋的日程安排，包括电子邮件、会议、项目管理、电话会议、咖啡以及更多咖啡。一周唯一有时间休息的时候就是周五的祈祷。“在集会的日子，你们要诚挚地追念安拉，停止工作。如果你知道这对你是最好的！”这是可兰经中的劝诫。

The Al-Noor mosque⁷ next to Hagley Park was special to him for family reasons. His father, Mohammed, had co-founded it only a year after coming to New Zealand from America. In Corvallis, in Oregon, he had founded another, to help the Muslim community take root there. His mother had offered Arabic lessons. It seemed a family trait⁸ to want to grow things fast, as Atta wanted to grow his company and the high-school futsal team. He was an impatient guy, but he was still young. There was time.

由于家庭原因，哈格利公园旁边的阿尔诺尔清真寺对他来说有特殊的意义。他的父亲穆罕默德从美国来到新西兰才一年，就与人合伙创办了这座清真寺。在俄勒冈州的科尔瓦利斯，他建立了另一座清真寺，帮助穆斯林社区在那里扎根。他母亲教他阿拉伯语。阿塔想要发展自己的公司和高中五人制球队，想要快速发展，这似乎是家族的特点。他缺乏耐心，但他还年轻。本该还有时间。

1 warding   

监护，守护（ward的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Magina channels a powerful warding magic damping the negative effects of spells. 敌法师用守护魔法来抵御负面法术的攻击。
• Indeed, warding off disruption is the principal property of complex systems. 的确，避免破损解体是复杂系统主要的属性。

2 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

3 grab   

vt./n.攫取，抓取；vi.攫取，抓住(at)

参考例句：

• It is rude to grab a seat.抢占座位是不礼貌的。
• The thief made a grab at my bag but I pushed him away.贼想抢我的手提包，但被我推开了。

4 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。

5 demise   

n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让

参考例句：

• He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
• The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

6 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

7 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

8 trait   

n.显著特点，特性

参考例句：

• Creativity is a human trait.创造力是人类的一种特性。
• Repose of manner is an estimable trait in a horse.神情镇定是一匹马可贵的特质。